Playground Antics
by AlmostLawli
Summary: Casey goes to the park with her dad, nervous about making new friends. Just when she thinks she should give up, a boy shows up that may just make her day... better or worse? (Quite a few references to Dave/John. Just something that kinda happened while I was writing. I hope it's not as bad as I think it is. Rated T for some language.)


**A/N:**** Okay, I just couldn't resist. Don't judge me… This is the product of late night writing combined with searching "human casey homestuck" on google images and sending my friend:**

_**PI: NICE LEGS DAISY DUKES MAKE THEM BOYS GO nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak nak**_

**Yeah… Also, the park is based off of a park that I actually have in my hometown! It was built by a family who has a wheelchair-bound son who couldn't get around normal playgrounds because of the woodchips and all of the stairs on the playground equipment. So they made a new playground. The entire ground was made from… Well, I don't know the material, but it was kind of like rubber. It might have been rubber. Huh… But yeah! It was all smooth with rubberlike ground and ramps… It had stairs, but it was mostly ramps. It's actually very nice, and I was good friends with the family who raised money for and built it. Since I didn't want to put the actual name of the park, I just renamed it after Tavros because yeah.**

**In fact, the entire story itself is semi-based on a true story! :D**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Homestuck and its characters do not belong to me. They belong to Andrew Hussie, a man much cleverer than I.**

* * *

Your name is Casey Egbert and you were… nervous, to say the least.

"Casey? Are you alright?" You hear your father ask, and you turn to face him in the seat next to you. "Yeah… I guess I'm fine…" Even you could hear the doubt in your voice, and you slouched a bit. You could practically feel the fatherly, worry-filled gaze he was sending you. You only slouched farther down in your seat.

"Are you sure that you want to go to the park today?" he asked. You rolled your eyes slightly. "No, Dad. I told you that I didn't wanna," you mumbled, and he only smiled at you. "It's about time that you went out and made some friends." "Daaaaddy, I have friends!" "Darcy and Isaac do not count! Isaac is Aunt Rose's son, making you friends by association. And Darcy is Jade's son, making you two cousins. Both are like family; you're practically required to hang out so you snot-nosed brats don't bug the grownups," he chuckled at the little scowl you gave him. "You said no name calling!" Your dad stuck his tongue out at you.

"But Dad…" you said, turning to face the window once more, though not actually looking out of it—instead you opted to look down and pick absently at the thin yellow material of your pantyhose. "What if they don't like me? What if I mess up and they laugh at me?" The car was silent for a moment, the only sound being that of the heater and the wind roaring dully outside as you drove by.

Finally, he broke the silence.

He let out a breathy chuckle and let go of the steering wheel with one hand and ruffled your mop of blonde hair. "Oh, Case. How could anyone not like you?" he asked and you looked up to see him with a big grin on his face. You gave him a confused stare and he turned back to the road. "You're funny and bubbly and one of the sweetest little girls I know. You do great magic tricks and you have the brightest smile in the whole world," he said, glancing at you every now and then from the corner of his eye.

You felt your face go red at the compliments and you let a small smile creep onto your face. "_And_, I'm not sure if you know this, but we Egberts tend to be pretty irresistible. All the way up in our family tree—up to my Nanna—we all married early just due to our unexplainable attractiveness," he said with a wink and you giggled. "Daddy, I'm adopted." "Oh, that doesn't really matter! It all matters about how you were raised! I was adopted and just look at me, such a manly stud." You stopped. "But daddy, you never got married."

Your dad's face visibly darkened at your statement. "Um… well…" he stuttered, trying to find the correct words to say. "I just never found… the right person," he said, putting his full attention back on the road. "What about Aunt Rose?" He just laughed. "Aunt Rose… It was suggested to me by a friend before. I guess I thought about it, but… nah. Besides, do you really want Isaac to be your stepbrother?" You must have made quite the face because your father almost swerved off the road out of laughter.

"_Shit_!" he shouted as he narrowly avoided a crash with another car. It was a red Toyota. "Yeah well, fuck you, too, you fucker! Damn…" is along the lines of what he said after said Toyota honked in quite an aggravated manner as it sped past.

You stared at your dad in shock, not used to hearing those kinds of words from him. You'd heard them before, from the boys at school and from some of the movies your daddy left on at night when he fell asleep in front of the TV and you woke up to find him there, but you'd almost never heard him say those words himself. He simply shook his head as he turned back to the road. After a moment, he blinked and turned towards you slightly, a look of confusion on his face at your open-mouthed, wide-eyed state. He paled once he came back to the realization that you were still in the car and had heard him.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking for the right words to say, before he finally just settled with, "Ignore that."

The rest of the car ride went on in quite the uncomfortable silence.

* * *

"Alright, we're here!" your dad said, the incident on the road all but forgotten. The announcement was needless, though, for you had noticed the park a while ago and had been sitting on the edge of your seat, face pressed against the window to get a better look.

The playground was surrounded by dirt patches with little tulips and violets and roses growing in each patch. You could get in from anywhere, but there was an archway that served as an official entrance. The archway was two tall metal poles with a thick, sturdy, plastic sign connecting them at the top. The sign was a rainbow with the words "Nitram's Garden" written over the top in white. The ground was rubbery and smooth and depicted various scenes from fairies to stars to sea turtles depending on what equipment was nearby. The main attraction, the fort, was huge. It spanned nearly the entire park, save for a swing, play conga drum set, a seesaw, and a large rocking pirate ship in all four corners of the park.

The rest was entirely the fort.

It had slides of many kinds and many twists and turns. The bars were yellow, the slides were blue, and the various other activities that could be found at various places along the walls (like tic-tac-toe, cog wheels, a ship wheel, and math turners) were in red. The seesaw was one long blue cylinder. Two people sat on the white squares on the seesaw and bounce, and it would move like a snake. Not your most common kind of seesaw, but it still looked fun. The swings were large and tan colored, and the play conga drums and rocking pirate ship were blue as well.

There were already a bunch of kids there, which was the only reason that the playground looked so scary to you. You'd never been to such a big and popular park before. Normally, you just went to small ones by your house with no more than a few kids. There had to at least be thirty kids here! You gulped as you watched them roughhouse and fall down ramps and slides and scream and cry for their parents. Again, you'd seen worse at school. But these kids were so many more than what you were used to, and many of them were much bigger than you.

Before you even knew it, your dad was parked and pulling a water out of the backseat for himself, and a juice box for you. He handed you the box with an overly cheery "Let's go!" and got out of the car.

You didn't budge.

He walked around to your side of the car and, although the door wasn't locked and he could easily open it and pull you out, he simply knocked on your window with a reassuring smile. With a sigh, you turned and struggled with your tiny arms to open the door. Once you did, your dad stood there expectantly.

Oh no. If you were doing this, you were getting special treatment.

Holding out your arms towards your dad, you stared him directly in the eye. He raised an eyebrow at you and smiled in amusement, shaking his head. "You can get down by yourself, young lady."

You again didn't move.

"Casey, come on. This is baby behavior. You're a big girl; you can get out of the car yourself."

Time for the look.

"Casey, no! No, that's not going to work this time."

Use those feminine assets, girl. (Wait no that's not what I meant you perverts geez)

"Caaaaaaaaase! Don't do this."

It's working. Now's your chance!

"Nope! Nope! …..Oh, alright, already! Stupid puppy dog eyes!"

With a huff from him and a satisfied grin from you, he put his hands under your armpits and hoisted you out of the car and set you on the ground. "You're such a diva," he muttered and you grinned again.

Your grin soon fell again, however, once you looked up at the playground again. From close up and ground level, the thing was even more terrifying. Your daddy took your hand and gave you another smile, patting your back with his free hand to nudge you forwards. You shuffled in with your daddy to your back, encouraging you with just a simple squeeze of the hand.

You walked through the archway and onto the rubbery ground. You looked down at your outfit; it was your usual black short-sleeved hoodie and black skirt with yellow tights and bright blue boots. You wondered if you looked silly compared to the other kids. You expressed your concern to your father and he smiled and said you looked perfect. Once you reached the front ramp that led up into the large fort, your daddy let go of your hand and crouched down in front of you. "Okay, I'm going to go and sit with the other parents, okay? You be careful," he said. When you just nodded solemnly, looking at the ground, he lifted your head up to face him. "Hey, you'll be fine! Just go have fun." He kissed your forehead and stood, ruffling your hair once more and trotting over to the park benches that lined the edges of the playground, designed for parents.

You pulled on the strings of your hoodie, feeling just a slight chill from the autumn air. You tightened the purple, hand-knitted scarf around your neck. It was a gift from your Aunt Rose and it made you feel safe. You took a deep breath and headed up the ramp, prepared to look for some new potential friends. Two girls ran past you as you walked along awkwardly, completely disregarding you. A boy was sitting in one of the roofed openings ahead of you against the railings, scribbling something onto a piece of paper. You walked past him. You weren't all that interested in drawing. Another girl was playing tic-tac-toe by herself, and you thought about going over to her before a boy came by and pulled her hair, prompting her to run off after him, yelling insults.

After about fifteen more minutes of aimless wandering, you still were left all alone. All of the other kids either ran off before you could talk to them, or—and this was the most common case—just simply didn't look approachable. They were either too big or were doing something you knew was wrong and/or just didn't have any interest in doing. With a sigh, you slid down the third largest slide on the playground—it was blue and had three different sections: one was wavy, one was bumpy, and one was fast. You chose the wavy one.

After reaching the bottom, you shuffled over to the seesaw and sat down upon it, bouncing dejectedly. You thought about going back to your dad, telling him that you couldn't find anyone to play with and that you just wanted to go home. You weren't sure if he would actually take you home, but you figured that it was worth a shot. You sighed and bounced a few more times.

Suddenly, you felt the weight on the seesaw shift and your bouncing was cut short. You looked up across the seesaw, and seated on the other white seat was a boy about your age. He was just a little bit taller than you and he had bright red hair and pale skin with freckles. He wore a white undershirt with an orange and red hoodie, and blue jeans. He also had on a pair of red tennis shoes. But the most peculiar thing was the pair of red-rimmed sunglasses that were perched on his nose. They had orange lenses, and you could see through them, but it was the middle of November and it wasn't sunny at all. You cocked your head at him and frowned only slightly. He was grinning from ear to ear and leaning forwards on the seat of the seesaw. "Hey," he said simply.

You didn't respond.

"I'm Aiden," he tried again. You still said nothing and just stared. He stopped smiling and just raised an eyebrow at you. "Are you deaf or somethin'?" he asked. "Nice going, Aiden, choose the one deaf person on the entire playground and just start talkin' their ear off," he continued to mumble to himself. "No, I'm not deaf," you finally said. You'd spent so much time looking for other people that you didn't think to just sit and wait for someone to come to you. "Well, why didn't you say anything, then?" His accent was just slightly southern, and it sounded kind of cool.

"I dunno. I just didn't know what to say," you said with a shrug. "You coulda said hi or told me your name," he replied. "I told you mine." "I'm Casey. Casey Egbert." He once again raised an eyebrow at you, but this time it seemed more condescending than curious. "What?" You frowned. "Casey. My name is Casey." "What was that last part?" "Casey Egbert!" The boy, Aiden, burst out laughing. His laugh was kind of strange. Instead of "hahaha" it sounded more like "nak nak nak." Under normal circumstances, you would have found that to be kind of funny, but now it just made you flush red from confusion, embarrassment, and anger that you couldn't place.

"What are you laughing at?!" you demanded from him. "What kind of last name is _Egbert_?" "It's my daddy's last name!" you shouted. "It's the most ridiculous last name I've ever heard!" he scoffed with another laugh. "Well, what's _your _last name?" you asked, placing your hands on your hips and glaring at the boy. "Not something as stupid as _Egbert_!" "_It isn't stupid!_" you yelled and he stopped laughing. Instead, a delightfully evil smirk overtook his features. "Is too."

Oh no.

Nope.

Nope, nope, nope.

You were _not _getting roped into another one of these.

Darcy did it to you all of the time and Aunt Jade told you that all kids did it when they wanted trouble. You didn't want trouble; you just wanted to go see your daddy and go home and forget this awful little boy ever existed.

And you planned to do just that.

You hopped off of the seesaw with a huff and turned to leave.

You didn't make it five steps.

"Is toooooooooooo!"

You bit the inside of your cheek and took another step.

"It is too-o-o-o-o-o-o."

No. No, you were going to be the bigger person here, as your dad always told you to do, though whenever Jade and your dad would bicker, neither seemed to be following their own advice.

"Is too, Eg_derp_!" he called one last time, his voice becoming sing-song like and rising in pitch.

That was it.

"Eg_bert_!"

"Same difference. They're both stuuuuuuuuuupid."

"Egbert is not stupid!"

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"It is _not_!"

"It is _too_!"

You growled.

"You know what is stupid?!" you asked, searching for something, anything, to hit this boy with. Aiden gave you a slightly interested, if underestimating look. "What?" "Those… Those…" You pointed directly at him, and he stepped back slightly as if you were holding a sword to his nose. "Those _stupid _sunglasses! It's the middle of November, the sun isn't even out, and you're obviously not blind! You just look like a… a _pretentious_—" you remembered one of the words Aunt Rose had taught you while watching some Disney movie. "—little… brat!" Your face was still red, and you were well aware that your argument was kind of weak and you were waiting for him to just laugh at you and ask if that was the best you could come up with, but he didn't. Instead, he looked genuinely offended, to your surprise. But he also didn't look like he knew why. Like he hadn't actually ever questioned why he _was_ wearing those glasses.

He glared at you and huffed. "Well… Your face is stupid!" he responded. Haha! You had him grasping for retorts now.

"Your shoes are stupid!"

"Your tights are stupid!"

"Your hair is stupid!"

"It is not! My hair is awesome! And so are my sunglasses!"

"Are not. They're just _S-T-U-P-I-D_!"

"They are not!"

"They are so!"

"Yeah, well, your _scarf_ is stupid!"

You hadn't noticed that the two of you had been moving a step closer to each other with each insult before he had reached out and yanked your scarf off of your neck, sending you stumbling forward slightly, attempting not to lose your balance. "Huh?" you asked dumbly, hands flying to your neck only to find that your scarf was gone. You gasped and looked back towards Aidan, who was, indeed, in possession of your scarf. He was holding the purple neck accessory at arm's length, inspecting it with a critical look on his face.

"Give that back!" you yelled with seriousness and panic evident in your face. Aiden looked up to you, his eyebrows raised, but he must have felt the amount of power over you that was restored to him now, for he leered once again and let go of the scarf with one hand, placing that hand on his hip while still holding the scarf in the air with the other. "And if I don't?" he challenged. "Then, I'll… I'll…! I'll go get my dad!" Aiden just laughed. "I mean it! It was a gift from my Auntie! Give it back!" "I bet your Aunt is stupid, too." "She's smarter than you!"

He laughed again and slung the scarf over his shoulder.

"I think I'll keep this," he said, feigning innocence. "No!" You ran towards him, but he sidestepped you and you tripped and fell to the ground. You heard a small uproar of laughter and you felt your face flush. Looking up, you saw the small crowd that had gathered around you sometime during your yelling match earlier. You rolled back over, glaring daggers at Aiden. Not that you haven't been this whole time. You felt tears pricking your eyes, but you refused to cry in front of this boy. Without warning, you lunged for him again from the ground, catching him off guard. You took the opening and grabbed the end of the scarf that was hanging over his back, pulling it back forwards so you could attempt to yank it out of his grasp.

You weren't that quick, though, for Aiden came back to his senses just in time to tighten his hold on it before you could pull it away. You both had it in a vice grip as you both pulled. "Give it back; it's mine!" you shouted and he barred his teeth. They were surprisingly pointy, you thought. "No way!" he said. "Yes way! It belongs to me!" you said, tugging it lightly. He yanked it harder, stretching the yarn and causing you to gasp. "No! You're going to rip it!"

You Aunt had warned you about being careful with the scarf. "I loosely knit it so it would be warmer, but that makes it more easily stretched out or torn. Don't roughhouse with it," she had cautioned you. And that's exactly what this boy was doing!

He gave it another hard yank and you yelled at him again, seeing it being stretched already. He kept pulling and pulling. You tried to step forwards some to release some of the tension, but you couldn't step too far or you would lose your balance and he would be able to pull it from you. You squeezed your eyes shut, begging him to stop.

All it took was one final yank.

Before you knew what had happened, you were facing the cloudy sky and the crowd had gone silent. Your head and back hurt, and your chest and lungs felt empty. You remembered this feeling from once before when you had fallen out of a tree. Your daddy had told you had you'd had the "breath knocked out of you." It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

You felt something soft in your hand and you smiled victoriously, sitting up and ignoring the dull throbbing to inspect your prize. Your smile only stayed for a few moments, however, as your eyes scanned the length of the fabric, only to see that it had been torn right in half. Breathing became even harder than it had when you fell. Your head shot up to look at the boy who was holding the other end of your scarf. He was still standing, having caught himself on the edge of the seesaw. He looked surprised. He was staring, wide-eyed at the piece of the scarf that he still held. Finally absorbing what had just happened, the tears in your eyes became even harder to hold back, and soon they were flowing down your face in waves.

You didn't know what you were doing anymore. You were just so _angry_. You'd never felt this way before, not even when Isaac had tried to flush your magic wand down the toilet before.

You wobbled to your feet squeezing the end of the scarf tightly, your skinny little legs shaking. You marched over to Aiden, who looked up and sudden recognition had flashed across his face. "Uh—" was all he had had time to get out before you had angrily shoved him, with all of your strength, over the edge of the seesaw and onto the ground. He hit the ground with _WHUMP _and an, "Oof!" of pain. His glasses were slightly askew and you could see a pair of blue eyes, much like yours, underneath. He frowned deeply and shot up. "Hey!" he yelled at you, his shocked state now dissipated, replaced by ire. "What was that for?!"

You just growled.

"It's just a stupid scarf!"

"_**IT'S. NOT. STUPID!"**_ you screamed at the top of your lungs. He winced and the entire playground seemed to grow silent. You felt yourself shaking. You didn't want to be near this boy anymore. You wanted your dad.

You turned on your heel and began running, your half of the scarf held tightly against your chest. You were sobbing by now, but you didn't stop to wipe your face even though the tears were blurring your vision severely, causing you to almost losing your balance more than once.

_Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad._

That's all you could think. You ran to the benches where your father had sat down, but he wasn't there. Many of the parents turned to look at you, and a look of concern and worry flashed on their faces before you quickly turned away to continue looking for your dad. You ran in between a small patch of roses and a small patch of daisies, out of the playground, and into the park. You turned a corner around the public bathrooms and—

You found yourself knocked to the ground again. You at least landed on your butt this time instead of on your back. The surprise stopped your sobbing momentarily, but you were soon wailing full-force once again.

"Oh shit," a voice from above you said. Immediately after, that someone was kneeling in front of you with their hands hovering over you, as if unsure what to do. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Nice going, Strider. Knock down a little girl at the park. Fucking asshole. Oh wait I probably shouldn't curse. Fuck. I mean frick. Goddammit." You weren't really paying too much attention to what he was saying, but you didn't care at this point. Not knowing what else to do, you flung yourself forwards and into the stranger's arms, completely forgetting the "stranger danger" rule. You wrapped your arms around this person's neck, burying your face into his—yes, it was a man—shoulder, and letting all of your tears out on his shirt. You tried to apologize, but your words just came out as a bunch of broken mumbles and cries.

"Oh shiiiiiii-oot," the stranger said. "Uh…" he mumbled before gently wrapping his arms around you awkwardly. "Shh… Uh… Don't cry… Little girl… Um… God, this is why I have a boy; I can't handle crying ladies," he mumbled, trying to comfort you. Oddly enough, it was sort of working. He smelt like apple juice. Speaking of which, you're pretty sure you dropped your juice box back there with Aiden. Just thinking of him and what your Aunt and dad would say about your ruined scarf just made your stomach churn and made you want to cry again.

The stranger was rocking you carefully, yet cumbersomely. "You alright now?" he asked a few minutes after you had calmed down some. You simply nodded, leaning back off of his shoulder to wipe your slightly runny nose on your shoulder. He set you back onto the ground, still kneeling in front of you. You could tell he didn't really know what to do.

He was taller than you—much taller—and, to your disbelief, he was even taller than your daddy! And your daddy was the tallest person you know, even for a grownup! He had blonde hair that was swept to one side, with a matching small goatee, and pale skin and freckles dusting his cheeks. He was wearing a white long-sleeved T-shirt with red sleeves, and a black hoodie, like you, except his was thicker, zipped up instead of just slipped over his head, and had long sleeves instead of short. He was also wearing black converse and blue jeans, as well as a pair of pitch black aviators. Unlike Aiden, you couldn't see through this man's, but the sunglasses still made you upset.

"What's your name?" he asked. You sniffled one more time before replying, "Casey…" He nodded in understanding and turned to look around him. "I'm Dave. Uh… Where're your parents?" he continued. "I… I was looking for my daddy before I ran into you," you said. "I… I wanted to find him because he can stop me from feeling sad." A look of slight relief crossed Dave's features. "Oh… So you weren't crying because I knocked you down? Sorry about that, bt-dubs." You shook your head. "No. You just surprised me." He sighed. "Thank God. I felt really shitty there for a sec—oh dammit—oh come on! God! Sorry for cursing. Please don't tell your dad about that." You shook your head again and crossed your heart, causing him to chuckle slightly.

"Why were you crying anyw—"

"Casey?"

You whipped around to see your dad coming from behind you, carrying what looked to be a hotdog. He must have gone to the concessions. "Dad!" you yelled with a grin, scrambling to your feet to run and envelop his waist in a hug. "Daddy!"

"Casey, what are you doing all the way out here? And who are you—" Your daddy stopped as he looked up at the stranger. "…Dave?" Dave looked up as well, to your dad, and he got the same shocked expression that he was giving him. Well, he wasn't all wide-eyed and open-mouthed like your dad was, but his eyebrows were raised pretty high. "John?" Dave responded and stood to his feet. "John, you're her dad? What are you doing here?"

"That's a fine question to be asking me! Why didn't you call and say you were in Washington?"

"I wasn't sure if you'd moved or something."

"Dave, why would I ever move?"

"Because Washington is cold as hell."

"Dave, that doesn't even make any sense. Hell isn't cold."

Dave rolled his eyes.

"Daddy? You know Dave?" you asked, looking up to face your daddy. "Oh! Um… Yeah. We were friends a long time ago. He, uh… Got busy," your dad said with a frown. Dave seemed to look off to the side a bit guiltily. "Work, it's… What can I say?" "You could say sorry." Dave opened his mouth to say something else, but your dad looked down at you and, for once getting a really good look at you, gasped and bent down to your level, dropping his stuff on the ground. "Casey, what happened to you?"

You gave him a confused look before he grazed his thumb over your cheek and you felt a sharp pain. You grimaced and let out a tiny "Ow," which caused him to retreat his hand. Looking down at your arms, he pulled them forwards, rotating them so he could see the other side. "And your elbows, too!" he exclaimed. Looking down at your elbows, you saw that they were skinned slightly and bleeding. You pouted and felt tears forming in your eyes again. How had you not noticed that?

"Crap, is that from when I knocked you down?" Dave asked, panic rising with his voice. "You knocked my daughter down?" "I didn't know she was your daughter!" "You would have knocked her down if she wasn't?" "No, of course not!" Before they could drag themselves further into an argument, you spoke up. "It wasn't Dave, dad." Your dad looked at you with worry. "Then what happened?"

You bit your lip and showed him what was left of your scarf. "It… It… I'm so sorry, Dad!" you exclaimed, feeling the tears wanting to fall again. "I didn't mean to! I really didn't! He just wouldn't give it back and I got scared and I wasn't paying attention and—" Your dad shook his head and placed his hands on your shoulders. "Shhhh, Case. Just tell me what happened."

Taking a deep breath, you began telling him exactly what happened, all the way from going to the seesaw to talking with Dave. By the end of your story, you had a few stray tears falling and your voice was a little unstable, but you had managed to stay strong. "I'm sorry, I ruined Aunt Rose's scarf…"

Your dad shook his head once again. "No, no, no. I'm sure she can fix it, honey. Rose is the best at that sort of thing," he said, patting your head. "And if not, she would be happy to make you a new one. I'm sure of it." You heard Dave mumble "Rose?" but your dad either didn't hear him or just ignored him. You felt a little better and shook your head yes. "What was the boy's name? What did he look like?"

You scrunched up your eyebrows, trying to straighten out your thoughts. "He said his name was Aiden… He was a little taller than me. He had red hair and some funny looking red sunglasses." You heard Dave groan, causing both you and your dad to look up at him. His gazed was fixed on the playground and his mouth was set in a tense, straight line. "That little shit," he grumbled. Your dad frowned at the language, but decided against scolding him in favor of asking, "Yours?" He nodded. "I'm sorry, Case—" "Only Rose, Jade, and I can call her Case," your dad said coldly, and you saw Dave frown.

"I'm sorry, Casey," Dave began again. "I'll go talk to him." "You don't have to!" you said a bit desperately. "I mean… All I really want is the other half of my scarf back…" Dave shook his head and replied, "Nah. I gotta talk to him. He can't just be going around and doing crap like that." And with that, Dave stalked off towards the playground.

* * *

Your dad was currently washing your cuts with a paper towel as you sat on the edge of the water fountain he was using to wet said paper towel. You swung the leg he wasn't cleaning idly, humming softly a song your dad liked to play on the piano.

Soon enough, you heard shouting just slightly in the distance. Looking out, you saw Dave arguing with, lo and behold, Aiden. Dave had his hands on his hips; the same was that Aunt Rose often did with Isaac. Aiden had his arms crossed, and he was leaning towards Dave in defiance. You tilted your head at them.

"Hey, Daddy?"

"Yes, Casey?"

"What happened between you and Dave?"

Your dad stopped what he was doing to look at you in mild shock. He looked back down towards your knee and began cleaning with much more vigor than before. "Nothing you need to worry about."

After watching the two sunglasses-wearing males argue some more, you saw that Aiden was still resisting his father's chiding. You could tell that they were both getting agitated. "I'm surprised he hasn't initiated a strife with the boy yet," your dad said. You looked down at him to see that he was watching them out of the corner of his eye as well. The look on his face brought another question to your mind.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Did you and Dave have a 'falling-out'?"

"What? Where did you hear that term?"

"I heard it in a movie once. The main character was supposed to get married to this guy, but he ended up having a falling-out and they split up, but then they got together at the end of the movie. Is that what happened, Dad? Are you and Dave gonna get married?"

Your dad sputtered and gave a particularly rough scrub to your skinned knee.

"We are _not _going to get married, Casey!"

"Ow, hey! That hurt… Why not? You're not married yet."

You could see his face was turning red, though you weren't completely sure what the problem was.

"B-Because! I'm not gay! Besides, you can't marry someone just to marry them! You have to be in love with the person!"

"You don't love Dave?"

He stopped. "I'm… mad at him."

"So? You get mad at me and you get mad at Aunt Jade… But you still love us. Don't you?"

Your dad blinked and looked up at you, ceasing the cleaning of your leg. "Of course I still love you, Casey."

"Then don't you still love Dave?"

You saw him bite the inside of his cheek before looking off to the side without moving his head. He let out a short, breathy laugh before shaking his head. "Come on, Casey," he said, standing and lifting you off of the water fountain and placing you at a nearby gazebo. He turned back to watch Dave again, a thoughtful look forming on his face.

You turned towards the two Striders as well. Aiden now had his hands shoved in his hoodie pockets and he kicked at the dirt. Dave said something and pointed back towards you and your dad. When Aiden looked in your direction, you felt his eyes on you. You turned away, facing the opposite direction, and you pouted.

A few moments later, a shadow floated across the ground and into your line of vision. You didn't bother to turn around to see who the shadow was. Said person of shadow cleared their throat. When you didn't move, they let out a dramatic sigh. You still didn't move. Another sigh.

"Oh, come on! I'm trying to apologize," Aiden complained. "Go away," you mumbled. He sighed for a final time, though this time it was more out of defeat, and walked around in front of you. You ignored him pointedly. The boy just stood there awkwardly for a moment before sitting next to you. Before you could turn away from him to face the other way, he grabbed your shoulder. "No, hey! Wait a sec, just…. Alright, look… Just look at me." Nothing. "Please?" Nope. "_Please_, Casey?"

"…"

You finally turned towards him with a hardened glare. He frowned and… he looked almost regretful. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tear your stup—" your frown deepened and he stopped. "I… I didn't mean to tear your scarf. And… I'm sorry for calling your last name stupid. And… whatever else I called stupid. See? That's how dumb it was! I don't even remember half of what I said! Sometimes I just keep talking and talking and talking and I don't know when to shut up. Dave—you know, my dad? Yeah, I just call him Dave. He adopted me, but he doesn't like being called Dad just because it doesn't really fit him. He's more like a brother, but he doesn't want me calling him 'Bro' or anything for some weird reason, but I still do it to piss him off sometimes. He also doesn't really care if I curse, but he doesn't want me doing it in public because he might get in trouble, so don't tell him I said 'piss,' okay? Anyway, he says that we have a tendency to talk a lot when we're stressed or emotional. He said it's so we don't end up losing it, though we end up doing it anyway. His older brother did it and so did he. Or, well, they still do. He says that I do, too, even though I'm not _technically _related, but—"

"I can confirm that you do it," you interrupted him. He stopped and blinked at you before smiling sheepishly. Now that he wasn't demeaning you or calling you names, the smile seemed kind of nice. "Yeah… Um… The point is… I'm sorry I was a total jerk and I'm sorry that I ripped your scarf," he murmured. You bit the inside of your cheek and twiddled your thumbs in your lap. You looked off to the side where you saw Dave and your dad talking. Well, Dave was talking. Your dad had his arms crossed and his cheeks puffed out. You had a feeling that Dave was rambling just like Aiden had been, for your dad said something, one word, probably his name, and he stopped, giving your dad the same smile Aiden had given you.

You turned back towards Aiden and sighed. "My daddy says that Aunt Rose can fix it… I want the other piece back." He nodded and reached into the pocket of his hoodie, producing the neatly folded up other half of your scarf. He handed it to you, and you mushed it up with the other one, stuffing it messily back into your own hoodie. "…Why're you being so nice?" you finally asked. Aiden blinked again, before letting out a soft chuckle. Even that sounded more like naks. You didn't laugh back, so he cleared his throat and continued. "Well, um… I told you, I didn't _mean _to be a prick… It just kind of happened. I guess… I'm not used to other kids. Normally, I'm just around Dave, so… I guess I just didn't expect my teasing to go down differently with a girl my age. That was kinda stupid of me and, again, sorry," he said, avoiding looking at you and pursing his lips.

"Don't you go to school?" you asked and Aiden shook his head. "Nah. I'm homeschooled. Do you?" he asked, and you nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I'm in second grade now." He nodded. "What's it like?" he asked, leaning back against the picnic table and stretching out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. "Oh, it's alright. Well, in Kindergarten it's kind of fun actually! We mostly just colored and learned our colors and numbers and letters and took naps and had snacks… But now it's getting to be more boring. Math isn't my favorite, that's for sure. I used to like writing numbers, but… Meh," you explained. He nodded again.

"You know, um, my dad… He has pictures of him and your dad… As well as two girls, who I'm guessing are your aunts. Well, one of them is my aunt, too—Rose? The one you said gave you your scarf. Yeah, she's Dave's sister. I think they were all friends. Dave tells some pretty funny stories about the four of them. He and your dad were best friends."

"Do you think they should get married? I think they should."

Aiden's eyes widened. A grin slowly spread across his face and he burst out laughing. Nak nak nak nak nak. That laugh was starting to grow on you. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, but _what_?!" he exclaimed, still grinning. You pouted. "What? I just think they should, that's all." "But… _Why_?" "Well… Dad said they had a falling-out. Well, he didn't say that they didn't. It seems like a movie that I saw. They ended up getting married in the end. It just seems right," you said. "Life isn't a movie, Casey," Aiden explained, but you rolled your eyes. "Says who?"

Aiden didn't seem to have an answer. Either that or he just didn't see the point in arguing.

"So," he said, "about that whole… forgiving me thing…" He looked at you out of the corner of his eye in anticipation. You didn't answer for a moment, just thinking. You weren't exactly happy with him, but you could kind of tell that he _was_ sorry… You sighed. "You're not completely off the hook, but… I'll give you a chance…" Aiden grinned, and you felt yourself forgiving him already. "Good!"

"Did you two make up yet?" you turned around to see Dave with his arm slung around your dad's shoulder, making their way towards the two of you. You nodded. "For the most part," Aiden said. "She still doesn't like me." Dave shrugged. "Dude, that much is obvious. When has a girl _ever_ liked you?" he teased, to which Aiden scowled and stuck his tongue out. "I'm only eight!" "Which is what makes it even more pitiful."

"How about you two?" you asked, interrupting the family quarrel, and your dad shrugged. "He's still not forgiven, but I've agreed that the two of them can come over to our house for the rest of the day, considering neither of you seem to be enjoying the park very much." You and Aiden high-fived, both of you exclaiming in excitement.

As you all piled into the car—your dad driving, Dave sitting in the passenger's seat, and you and Aiden sitting in the backseats behind your respective legal guardians—John turned on the radio, the Ghostbuster's theme sounding throughout the car. Dave gave him a questioning look with a hint of knowing added in with a smirk, and your dad just shushed him, declaring "My car, my radio, my choice in music. Suck it up, Strider." Dave backed off, though the knowing smirk didn't drop from his face. Aiden raised his eyebrow to you and you just shrugged.

About halfway back to your house, you couldn't hold it in any longer. The question had gone unanswered and dodged all day, and you needed a straight answer. It was now or never. Not really. You were just a seven-year-old without a filter and it just kind of came out without you really thinking much of it. The reactions from everyone in the car—a mixture of laughter, steering-wheel spasms, and shouts—told you that maybe the other people in the car had thought much of it.

"So, are you and Dave getting married or not, Dad?"

* * *

**A/N:**** I'm not too happy with the way this ended. :/ Oh well. I finished this at 11:45 P.M. with my dad yelling at me to go to bed, so, WHATEVER. I hope you enjoyed and I hope this wasn't **_**too **_**bad. It's the longest fanfic I've ever written! Well, longest one-shot.**

**Ok. I just wanted to say a few things. For those of you who are interested in my story **_**Duty, Moral, Love**_**, it's currently on a very mini hiatus. I know, right? Just after the Prologue? Well, there are a couple of things that led to this. One, I began writing and I had a chapter and a half written before I realized that something was wrong and I wasn't happy with what I was doing. So, now, I'm rewriting it and, if I stick to my writing schedule, I should be done by this weekend. However, the reason that I cannot upload it then is because I don't actually **_**have **_**wifi. I have a wifi box, which has data usage like a cell phone does. And I've already burnt it out this month, so I have to wait until the fourth of February to upload it. So yeah! If you haven't checked it out yet, feel free to do so. It's another Dave/John one, with Dirk/Jake as well.**

**I'm thinking about writing another chapter that will be the same events, just from Aiden's perspective. What he was thinking during the fight and his trip to the park and his and Dave's bonding time and how exactly their argument went down… What do you think? :D**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! All reviews are read and greatly appreciated. :3**

**-Lawli**


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